25-07-04: Valencia (h) 2-2 (HT 0-2) Crowd (19,565)

The game marked the first appearance of Simon Walton at Elland Road. It was a daunting task for the sixteen year old as he tried to take on the mantle of the departed Alan Smith in the affections of the Leeds fans and while he gave everything he did get a little carried away by the occasion. In front of an almost 20,000 crowd he attracted the attention of the referee with some over-robust challenges as he started to ruffle his experienced opponents and picked up a yellow card. When Leeds were awarded a penalty ten minutes into the second half, earned by Julian Joachim, he grabbed the ball and insisted on taken the kick himself, despite several other more experienced penalty-takers logically having first choice. But all was well and he ensured he made a scoring debut at Elland Road.While his Manager found the second yellow "a little harsh" it still led to his being sent-off in the seventy-first minute. Valencia had taken the game in their stride making their experience and superior skills count as Mohamed Sissoko opened the scoring seven minutes before half-time and Francisco Rufete doubled their lead a minute later. After the half-time break Leeds gave a chance to their Polish International trialist Tomas Rzasa at left-back in place of Matthew Kilgallon and in the sixty-ninth minute they made a quadruple substitution as Steve Guppy replaced Danny Pugh on the left flank, Craig Hignett came on for Gary Kelly and Clarke Carlisle replaced Michael Duberry and Lucas Radebe came on for Paul Butler at the heart of the defence. After Walton had reduced the arrears from the spot in the fifty-fifth minute, Matthew Spring scored the equalizer fourteen minutes later with a tremendous thirty-five yard free-kick before being replaced by Jamie McMaster ten minutes later. United made their final substitution in the eighty-third minute when Simon Johnson came on for Brian Deane, who had re-established himself as a crowd favourite in his second spell at Elland Road. The Valencia substitutes were: Javier Garrido, Ludovic Butelle, Jorge Lopez, Libero Parri, Pablo Redondo, Salva Ballesta, Emiliano Moretti and Fabian Canobbio

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